Groceries - $77.89
Auto:Gas -- $74.32
Auto:Insurance -- $206
Auto:Repairs $127.50
Gifts - $57.36
iTunes -- $11.30
Prescriptions - $45.30
Subscriptions/Fees - $60

Groceries - Two main reasons I think this category was under budget this month. One is the challenge between my mom and I (me, limited sugar; mom - one 12oz coke/day.) Two, was I cooked and froze 2lbs of pinto beans, and 8 servings worth of lentil soup - plus ate quite a bit of homemade burritos. It could have still been less, but on the most recent shopping trip (after the challenge) I bought more sweets than I really should have.

Auto:Gas - This would have been less if I hadn't made an extra trip to L************ to help the local church school teacher. This extra expense was offset though by her giving me $20 in gas money - which I first refused, but then accepted.

Auto:Insurance - My six-month premium with Geico. Reflected is a 10% Defensive Driving discount, plus an additional $6.60 for Roadside Assistance. (I canceled my $3/month RA plan with AT&T as of Friday.)

Auto:Repairs -- Replacing three outside belts to stop my car from squealing constantly.

Gifts -- Mostly Christmas gifts, but also one Mother's Day gift. All bought via Mypoints or Swagbucks.

iTunes -- Got a bit carried away with purchasing tutoring apps for my new preschool student.

Prescriptions - Renewed Walgreen's Prescription Discount card, plus monthly prescription.

Subscriptions/Fees - $60 - Renewed professional memberships in American Library Association and Texas Library Association.

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"Passive Income"
In November I earned around 1200 points at Mypoints. I need another 1200 points to redeem for a $50 Wal-mart card. I may be able to do this by sometime in January. (Most of the points are from two sources: clicking on paid emails, and survey non-qualifiers. I did make one purchase this month (gift) which gave me 200 points, and I did upload a pet photo for a contest and shared it on Facebook - for another 225 points.)

I redeemed 2,250 Swagbucks for $25 in Amazon.com gift cards. Plus I have earned an additional 2,109 Swagbucks in November. I will most likely use those to get another $25 in Amazon.com gift cards in December. I have at least one family member who may sign up under me (mom), and am going to try for two others over the holidays.

I redeemed 8900 Chase CC points for $89.00 in statement credit.

I found out yesterday that I earned $2.86 in advertising income through my Frugal blog for Amazon.com. Of course, I can't get that money until it reaches $10. Which may be never (considering this was from a sale in August ... the only sale so far.)

Tutoring Income
Also in November I acquired two new tutoring students. This added an additional $150 income. Which almost made up for the week of Thanksgiving where all but my new students canceled.

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Future Spending/Income

In December I am pretty sure that both my gas and groceries categories will be a good bit less with my going on vacation from the 21st thru the 3rd. My family will pretty much not let me pay for anything. Although I will offer - and I am looking for the $3 deal for a $25 Restaurant.com gift card. I'd like to treat to this one particular vegetarian place.

Also, I should receive the scholarship money I was granted in November. However, I will also be paying my last semesters tuition (Due December 20?? I think.

We had a pretty small group for Sabbath School this weekend, just six kids. Of course, church itself was pretty empty. I guess a lot of people out traveling.

Yesterday I got an email from Amazon telling me that they had money for me, but didn't know how to get it to me. (I'm an Amazon Associate on both of my blogs.) So I went to the site to find out what they were talking about. I had to search all the way back to August to find ... one person had bought two items (quinoa and something else)through one of my links! My advertising profit? $2.87. Of course, the minimum payout is $10, so I'm not sure why they were stressing about me setting up a payment method. I think its so funny that I made my first "sale" through my frugal blog on which I have *very* few Amazon links, rather than on my book blog in which I have links everywhere!

This weekend has been incredible with the wins on Swagbucks TV. From Thursday through today, I have had an average of ten wins per day. That's nearly half of a $5 Amazon gift card! (The normal average is two-three a day.)

Today my stepdad and I went over to my moms new apartment and helped her get more settled in. We brought Buddy with us - he was so happy to see mom. He followed her everywhere she went. On the way back home I asked SD to stop at a gas station because I wanted a Cherry Coke (challenge is over! thank you very much) Buddy went nutso in the car with SD while I was in the store. I think the little guy is getting a really bad complex.

Friday I went out grocery shopping pretty late. If I hadn't needed to fill up with gas for the weekend, I would have just skipped it.

I had about 15 items in my cart - all the lanes were packed (that were open.) So I chose the one with only one person who had two FULL carts. I figured that the one person had a better chance of getting through quickly than a line of 5 people with 15 - 20+ items (more chance of um... problem customers.) So anyway, while I was waiting, a cashier opened up the register just behind me. When I noticed it, she was about to start ringing a guy up behind me. He saw me notice it, then looked at my cart, and told me to go ahead. Really cute guy too. (Probably early to mid-twenties though. Too bad.)

I forgot to make an actual list, so didn't pick up spinach. SD picked that up today for me though.

So groceries -- $27.40 (fruit, cheese, Rice Dream, Orange Juice, hot chocolate, marshmallows, etc.)

Gas - $2.49/gallon $22.86

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November Spending:

Gas -- $74.78
Groceries -- $77.99
Auto Insurance -- 206.62
Subscriptions & Dues - $60 (
Prescriptions, etc. - $45.30
Gifts - $57.04
iTunes - $11.xx
Auto Repairs/Maintain - $127.65
Phone - $80.62

I did really well with my grocery spending this month. I think doing the challenge with my mom had a large part in it. Also, making crockpot beans and freezing them, as well as lentil soup, and eating lots of homemade burritos, cut down expenses.

Gas was okay. It would have been less if I hadn't gone down and volunteered at the local church school (I could have waited till December to fill up.) But .. I did get $20 in gas money from the principal/teacher (which I did try to refuse, but she insisted.) That isn't figured into the gas amount.

Auto Insurance - I chose to stay with Geico. The amount reflects the Defensive Driver's Discount, and adding back Roadside Assistance. I called AT&T on Friday and dropped their RA, which cost $3/month versus $1.xx/mo for Geico.

Subscriptions/Dues - After much thought I decided to renew my membership in the two professional organizations. Hopefully next year I'll be working in a library that will provide those dues for me, but for now, it will be good to have on my resume.

Prescriptions, etc. - My monthly scrip, plus a renewal of Walgreen's Prescription Club Discount card.

Gifts - Most come from an order with Lakeside Collection. VERY slow shipping. The order also earned some points through Mypoints. A few of the others are from two different photo deals I did through Swagbucks. My Christmas shopping is done. Oh yes, almost forgot - one gift was for Mother's Day (also a Swagbucks deal.)

iTunes - Got a bit carried away finding apps for my new tutoring student (pre-schooler)

Auto Repairs - Replaced three outside belts when the squealing got really bad in my car.

Phone - This should go down a little bit next month, now that I've canceled Roadside Assistance

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I did have some unexpected new sources of income this month, such as the two new tutoring students, and the reimbursed gas money. I also redeemed $25 worth of Amazon gift cards (through Swagbucks) which are currently sitting in my Amazon account. Not to mention the scholarship I found out about!

So, I definitely could do better next month. After the 21st, I doubt I'll be spending much of my own money (being out in CA.) I will offer - but will more than likely be turned down. (I am hoping one of those $3 Restaurant.com codes come out so I can get a gift certificate for this one restaurant out there and "treat" for at least one meal!)

I have truly been enjoying this weekend. I have next week to look forward to with only one tutoring session, and the end of the challenge with my mom (me = limited sugar; mom - limited soda).

Yesterday at church we again had 14 kids! I just can't say how much I loved it, even though it was quite crowded. Most of the reason we had so many was because the school was putting on a Thanksgiving program. So, in the middle of our lesson story, half of our class left to go practice. Hopefully those who don't normally come will be interested in coming again. Of course ... we don't really have space for more ... God will take care of that.

Other than church yesterday, I didn't really do much of anything.

Today I slept in a little bit. Oh luxury! (Can't sleep in too much, otherwise an anxious puppy will let me know how badly he needs to go!) I goofed on the net for awhile, checked out the coupons and advertisements for this weekend, and then goofed some more on the net.

This afternoon I was getting ravenous. So I decided to make a burrito. I used a tortilla which had been bought at Sam's club two years ago (frozen and moved several times - recently dethawed.) A 1/2 cup portion of the beans I made a few weeks ago (from the freezer), spinach, shredded cheese, and rice. It was so yummy and SO filling!

After I was done eating, I made my

Grandma's Corn Pudding Casserole. I was going to make it on Friday, but by the time I finished with an assignment that was due, it was after 5 p.m. I was tired, and just didn't feel like doing it. *The link goes to my Living Frugal blog with the recipe and pictures. (I'm freezing it for Thanksgiving.) I entered the recipe into the Swagbucks recipe contest. Crossing my fingers!

I have my first Swagbucks referral! Woo Hoo! Well ... it actually is my dad. I talked him through the process step by step over the phone.

The bananas I got on Thursday are already going bad. SD got some more today - they're much greener than the ones I'd found.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the church school and helping out the principal/teacher for the day. I can't donate much in the way of money, but I can donate time once in awhile. I do have two assignments I'll have to do this week, plus I may try to complete two of next week's assignments to get ahead a little bit.

I hope my mom decides quickly about whether or not she's moving out on Friday or not. If she isn't, then I'll make an appointment with the University Health center for my TSH (thyroid) test. (Discount days start on Friday.)Hopefully the traffic wouldn't be too crazy around the university.

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Spending:
iTunes - App store: 4 different apps for pre-schoolers. ~$6.00 (prepping for tutoring)

York Photo - $7.xx - two photo magnets (Christmas presents)

Tomorrow anticipated spending:

Either Acrylic Paint or Fabric Paint, Masking tape (Christmas presents), Spinach (my bag is going bad already)


**Any ideas on how to keep a bag of spinach from going slimy so fast? I eat it as fast as I can, but ...

Last night I worked with two new tutoring students, a 2nd grader and a 5th grader. They're both great kids and I think it is going to be lots of fun finding things for them. Their mom insists on them having homework between sessions. My mom had been working with the fifth-grade boy, as well as his two older brothers. But she wasn't able to work with the second grade boy.

Today as I was waiting for my high-school boy, I ran into the mom of two of my mom's former students. (She'd exchanged hair styling for tutoring.) She asked me if I'd be willing to work with her 4 year old daughter and help her get ready for kindergarten. One or two times a week for an hour each. Right up my alley! We'll possibly start in January.

Then near the end of my tutoring session with the high-school boy, his host mom came home. She's the same person who has essentially helped me get most of my students. She asked me if I thought I could tutor someone in Algebra 1. I gulped, and said that I thought I could. I'd have to get some books and such from the library to review, but I think I could do it. As long as I stayed ahead of the student.

Wow! if both of these new students pan out, I'm going to be quite busy! Yay!!

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Grocery Spending:

11/17 -- $8.01 supper, chocolate oranges (2)

I needed something to eat before tutoring my two new students. CVS had the chocolate oranges on sale 2 for $5. I *love* those oranges, and that is a good price. So ... they are put away until Thanksgiving when the challenge is over.

11/18 -- $7.06 bananas, shredded cheese, green onions, frozen veggies, cream corn,

I decided to make the corn pudding for potluck on Sabbath, so needed a few more ingredients.

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Wow! Yesterday I completed a special offer on Swagbucks for comparing insurance offers. (It gave me enough to get my 5th Amazon card, and have 300+ left.) This morning I was inundated with phone calls and emails. On Tuesday I had written a blog post on

how I've managed to stump car insurance agents. This morning to my utter shock, someone actually managed to beat my rate by $3 (per six-months.) I told them I didn't want to make a decision right away, but would need to think about it. Or, in other words, research the company.

Good thing I did! It has absolutely terrible ratings for customer service and claims handling. As I was talking to the five different people (the ones I actually answered the phone for) a reoccurring statement made was that I had only been insured for one-year. I thought that was really strange since I was pretty sure I'd been with Geico since at least 2001. I also found out that Texas passed a law raising the amount of the mandated minimums.

So I finally went ahead and gave Geico a call. I found out that most agents when making a quote will just automatically put one-year, and that I had been with Geico nearly 12 years. I also found out that I won't need to worry about the increased coverage rate until my May renewal. Then I asked the agent to add roadside service back to my plan. I couldn't remember why I had taken it off my plan in the first place ($6/term). He reminded me that it usually is only available for people with comprehensive, but that since I've been with them for so long, he'd make an exception. It just so happened that he was a supervisor!

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As I was typing this I got a call from the mom of the 4 year old. She and her husband have decided to have me work with their daughter twice a week! Yes! Apparently she has to pass a test to be admitted into the particular Kindergarten. The mom is going to talk to the pre-school teacher to find out what skills need to be worked on. I'm really running the gambit here - working with 4-year olds all the way through college!

Last night around 10:30 I was typing away on an entry here, when Poof! the power went out. It stayed out for over 90 minutes. We'd had a little bit of thunder and lightning, but nothing major. So ... that was weird.

I cashed in for my 4th Amazon $5 gift card yesterday, and deposited the second one in Amazon. I love free money.

Last night my mom asked me to help her with two of her tutoring students on Wednesday nights. This particular family has 4 children. I'll work with the two youngest, and she'll work with the two oldest. That adds an extra $200/month for me! Woo Hoo!

Today I spent quite a bit of money (well, for me anyway.) I decided to renew my memberships in American Library Association and the Texas Library Association. A total of $60 for both of them (student rates!) I'd been debating on it ever since I got the renewal notices. I finally concluded that if I want to have any chance of getting a job, it probably is a good idea to have a professional membership.

I did something else really unusual for me today. I opened up a credit card offer! It was for a Citi Visa for students. Even more highly unusual for me is that I applied! What got me? Two things: 1 - You can earn up to 4,000 points per semester based on your GPA; and 2 - Every month you pay on time you get 25 points. Boo Ya! Easy free points! I was approved for $4,000.00. I'm hoping that I can send them my grades for Spring semester and get the first 4,000 points. It'll motivate me to work even harder to make sure that one class this semester that's making me nuts becomes an A, for another 4,000 points.

Speaking of Credit Cards. Today I checked my Chase Visa account, and I had enough to redeem for $100 cash. Before it changed over to Chase Freedom, I could just apply that as a credit on my statement. But now they have a feature where you can apply a credit to your statement for *specific* purchases and purchase amounts. This is good and bad. I'll probably use it more often, since there is no incentive to save for a better deal on statement credit. However, it is very rare that an item is exactly within a certain range. Like today, I didn't have anything that was in the 70 - 75 range, but I did have a number of items in the 23 - 25 range. So, I ended up using 8900 points for an $89.00 credit. Next statement I'll have enough for a $20 credit (the minimum.)

I was supposed to buy bananas tonight, but totally forgot. By the time I was finished with my high-school boy (we worked 80 extra minutes) and made it through the construction traffic, my brain was fried. So, no banana for breakfast tomorrow.

I watched last night's Dancing with the Stars tonight. Wow! I just so love Jennifer Grey. She is so fantastic. I haven't heard the results yet from tonights vote off, but if a certain person on there stays, and Jennifer goes ... ARGHH!

Today was an interesting day weather wise. This morning it was rainy and windy, then by noon it was very warm and humid. Coming home from my tutoring student I had to put my a/c on high. Then by about 5 p.m. it was cold and windy again -- so much so I had to put a jacket on when I took Buddy out.

What can I say ... that's Texas for you!

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I did a bit of grocery shopping today. I had a total of $37.xx left ($17 from last week, plus this weeks $20.) I did a bit of a stockup, and got one little extra.

4 cans mushrooms, 2 cans refried beans, 1 bag shredded cheese, 2 half-gallons orange juice, 1 loaf of bread, 1/2 dozen eggs, bag of spinach, bag of cornbread mix, Rice Dream (milk), generic Ziploc quart bags, 1 pkg wet dog food, and 1 box of small dog treats.

I unfortunately did not have any coupons for any of the items.

The total came to $24.11. The only thing I can think of that I'll need to buy in the next two weeks are bananas. I didn't get them today because we have a few left, and I'm hoping SD will get more on Sunday. We go through bananas quickly in this house.

That leaves me with about $13 to go towards next weeks spending budget.
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I was thinking about making my cornbread casserole and entering the recipe and a picture of it in the Swagbucks recipe contest. That's why I got the cornbread mix at first. I wavered on doing it this week though. I may do it next week (deadline is next Friday) and make it for our Thanksgiving church potluck. Two birds with one stone. There's a few other ingredients I'd have to get, so I'll have to see where my grocery budget is at.

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Speaking of Swagbucks. I redeemed SBs today for my third $5 giftcard. Then I did a few easy peasy special offer deals, and am back up to 230. I just need 220 more for my next giftcard. I decided to link it to my Facebook account. It will only post 3 - 4 times a day, when I get search wins and when I get SBs for finding a code. So hopefully that won't be too annoying to others, and maybe I'll get a few referrals.

Today I had another happy news email. My first $5 Amazon gift card had arrived from Swagbucks. I went to my account and copied the code, then went to Amazon. So I now have $5 waiting for me to spend at Amazon.

I'm roughly 25 points away from my third gift card.

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I didn't spend any money today. So that's always a good thing.

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My next big project for one of my classes is writing a grant application. It should be interesting, especially since it has to be done with a partner. Doing things with a partner - especially when the other persons last name is before yours (which means their responsible for submitting different documents) - makes my hackles rise. Depending on other people when my grade is at stake, really is unappealing. Collaboration is great otherwise.

I finally completed one of the two assignments I'd been procrastinating on doing this week. It wasn't really that difficult, just time consuming. I think I'm at the point where I'm really, really tired of school. Good thing I only have one more class left! (Except it is a research methods class ... meaning lots of research papers.)

I just checked my email and found out that I was awarded a scholarship for the Spring semester! Yahoo! It didn't say how much it will be for, but I'm hoping it'll be at least $400 like for this semester. That'll definitely help put a little extra breathing room in my budget.

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Last night I was really, really bored and not feeling like doing school work. So I made the first video for my Living Frugal blog, and then I also made a second video for my Children's Books blog. It's a book review in an interview format.

Book Talk with Dan and Laura.

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Spending Report:

Filled up with gas: $23.57

Bought bananas: $1.43

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I'm about 70 Swagbucks away from redeeming my 3rd Amazon gift card -- and I haven't even been doing it for two full weeks yet! Of course, the proof will be when I am able to actually redeem the gift cards.

I did some Mypoints emails today, and looked at the rewards page. Recently, it had looked like 60% of their gift cards were gone. But it must have just been a glitch, or maybe they restocked. I have about 5600 points right now, so I could get a $25 gift card, or wait a few months more and get a $50. I'm debating on getting a Walmart card and use it for new clothes, or get an Amazon card to add to my SB winnings for something larger. I'll probably end up waiting to have enough for a $50 card.

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I feel really badly for my sixth grade tutoring student. Last week he had his finger slammed between 50lbs of weights when he was in weightlifting class. He actually broke the tip of it! So today I had him do his vocab quiz orally, and then I was his scribe for our essay writing work. (It was his writing hand.)

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My mom may have found the house she's going to move into. She's going to leave Buddy here for the most part so that he's not alone for 8 or 9 hours a day. He's going to be one confused little puppy.

I am signed up with a couple of listserves serving librarians. This past week or so, a number of posts have had links to videos made by this one site. My professor in one of my classes this semester has also created several of her lectures using it. So tonight I was feeling a little bored (even though I have plenty of schoolwork I should be doing!) and decided to play around with it.

I posted the end result on my living frugal blog. Here is the link

Cooking Lentils.

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Today was a NSD.

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I worked with Korean Boy this afternoon. A week or so ago he'd made a 31 slide PowerPoint on WWII without my help. Today I was helping him write notes for presenting it to his class on Friday. Oh boy. He essentially went to a Korean Wikipedia site and copied the translated information, and pasted it into the slides. A few of them make sense, but most make very little sense at all. He's already turned the slideshow in, so there wasn't anything I could do about that. But I did help him at least make his notes for the presentation sound halfway decent.

Today was another NSD.

I redeemed some of my Swagbucks for a second Amazon gift card, and have 200 towards the next one. My earnings are going to slow down a good bit probably, because I finished all the profiles, and completed most of the special offers which didn't require a phone number or credit card info (or a download).

I think I'm going to stop recording no spending days, and just record when I actually spend money.

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I finally input my paypal address to Adgitize so that I could get my money. Adgitize is an advertising company for blogs. When I was more active with my living simple and childrens books blogs I actually bought an advertisement one month -- and thus earned most of the cost back. Until today however, I just kept forgetting to put my paypal address in!

So ... Income: $11.97

This morning I worked with Korean Boy for 2 1/2 hours. We managed to get a very rough rough draft completed.

I was thinking about stopping and picking up some spinach, but the traffic on the way home was such a boor that I had only enough patience left to go straight home. So ... today was a no spend day.

I finished up the final draft of my second big paper. I think I did a pretty good job on it. I hope my professor agrees.

I spent way too much time today on Swagbucks. I did a couple of surveys, and completed one "task" on an offer wall. The task is not something I'd do again - spent 90 minutes on it for 15 SB's. Not worth it. But stubborn me would not quit till I finished. I am up to 522 SB's right now, so I could go ahead and redeem for my second gift card. But I read somewhere that they sometimes discount the gift cards closer to Christmas. So ... I'm going to wait.

While aimlessly watching Swagbucks tv, I started reading Janet Evanovich's latest book "Wicked Appetite." It features Diesel. Yum. I'm about 60 pages into it right now.

Last night I watched "The Baxter." I'd never heard of it before, but looking through my choices, it was the one that appealed to me most. I'm so glad I watched it! Such a sweet,quirky, romantic, funny and unexpected movie. One of the cleanest romantic movies I've seen in a long time. Safe to watch with your parents - no squirming around "love" scenes.

My church is going to be holding a weight seminar soon. The date hasn't been set just yet. The leader of it is looking for group leaders. I offered to lead a group depending on what day of the week it was on, and if there were not any requirements for the group leader to already be at a healthy weight. If it's on a weekend night, I'll definitely do it. I'm not going to go overboard though like I did the last time I was part of something like this. I did lose 30 pounds, and came in 3rd place ... but it didn't take long for those pounds to find me again.

I don't know why I have such a difficult time trusting that God is truly watching out for me. I think it's a case of "easier said than done."

This morning 3 things happened which reminded me that I truly am not alone.

1. If you remember, one of the upcoming expenses I was stressing over is my 6-month doctor visit and blood work. Last time it cost me approximately $200. This morning I managed to get in touch with a real live person at my university's health clinic. I found out three things: a) TSH test cost $41 on Nov. 29 and 30; b) Physicians visit (for prescription) is free, and c) I would need to pay a $15 service fee since I am not a campus student. So, for less than $60 I will be able to get my prescription renewed!

2. I received a call from the person hosting Korean Boy and College Korean Boy. She had a 4th tutoring student possibility for me, the son of a friend of hers. It would be a possible $400 - 500 month extra if it works out.

3. The biggest of all three! I took my car to the place I get my oil changed at. The mechanic who met me at the bay just so happened to be a former Honda dealer mechanic. I explained to him about the squealing noise and that I thought it might be the timing belt. He looked at me and was like, "It's not the timing belt. The timing belt wouldn't squeal, it would just break." He asked me when I'd had it changed last, and I told him it was about 60k miles ago. He said it didn't need to be changed for at least another 20k. Then he said that what probably was causing the squealing noise are the outside belts (can't remember their names.) AND he said that to change them out with parts and labor would run about $120! I told him to go for it!

An hour and half later my car was finished. I'd also asked him to look over it and see if there was anything else I needed to be aware of. He told me that overall it looked pretty good, but that one of the three engine mounts was bad. I asked him what kind of time frame I was looking at to get that fixed -- he said it could be 6 months, 1 year, or even 3 years. So ... I'm not going to worry about that right now.

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I did a couple of surveys on Swagbucks today (finally qualified!) and completed a few of the profiles. So am now up to 175 SB's.

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Spending log:

Decided I didn't need any groceries this week. So I spent of my $20 for the week: $1.50 - stamps; $1.39 bananas. That leaves $17.61 to add to next week.

Not buying junk food really cuts back on the expenditures!

Mechanic:

$127.65

For the past few months my car has been emitting a squealing noise from time to time. At the time of my mom's neck surgery, a tutoring student of my mom's was riding in my car with me and mentioned it. The Korean Boy student also has mentioned it (although he thinks my windshield wipers going on when we go over a bump is hilarious.)

I've been worried about it, but have pretty much ignored it. Hoping for nothing to happen. The last week or so, it has gotten progressively worse. To the point that today it was almost constantly squealing.

The people I've mentioned it to think it is probably my timing belt. I think that is very probable. It's probably been about 60,000 miles+ since it was last changed, and 7 or 8? years.

Tomorrow I'm taking it to a place across the street from the school I tutor at. I'm hoping that the guys there will look at it and confirm for me if the timing belt is the problem, or if it might be something else. If they think it is the belt, then I'll have to check and see if the *trusted* person our family has used many, many times is available. It is a 40 mile trip to him.

I've already called my Sabbath School assistant and told her that I probably won't be able to come on Sabbath. I'm scared to drive my car right now more than I *absolutely* have to.

If you recall, my funds are *very* *very* low. Replacing the timing belt will just about wipe them out.

So, I am back to considering the option of taking money out of my ROTH. I need to make sure I can do that without tax consequences or other penalties. There isn't much in there, but it would at least help relieve some of the pressure.

I feel so conflicted with all of this. I want to trust that God will work it all out in the end, but then I know that we're also supposed to do our part.

SD was suggesting that maybe I should check and see if my dad's side of the family's offer to help me buy a new car was still valid. With having no guarantee that I'll even find a job which pays enough to live on *and* repay a loan, I just can't stomach the thought.

Ugh!
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On a lighter note. I redeemed 449 Swagbucks last night for my first $5 Amazon gift card. It says that it'll take between 10 and 14 days to arrive. As of right now, I have 60 SB's towards the next one.

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Spending Log:

$1.39 - Bananas

Korean Boy finally paid me today. I'll be making a deposit tomorrow.

Today was a NSD.

I'd finished my big assignment for the week, so took some time today to goof around on Swagbucks. As of now I have 448 SB's, and will have 3 more once a video credits. That will give me enough for my first $5 amazon gift card. Yay!

Today was fairly cold again, but no rain. I need to find my close toed shoes, because my feet were getting really cold today.

My crockpot beans turned out pretty good. However, I learned a lesson. Don't cook beans overnight! I cooked them over Saturday night. I got up around 4 a.m. to check on them, and my mom got up around 5 a.m. to check on them. The smell of cooking beans is hard to ignore when you're trying to sleep!

Brrr...! I think I spoke to soon yesterday about wondering when winter would ever arrive. Cold rain and temperatures in the 50's are a complete turn around from yesterday. I really need to find my umbrella!

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I'm liking Swagbucks for the most part. So far I have 355, so am almost able to get my first Amazon gift card. There are a couple things about it that annoy me, but not enough to not take advantage of the opportunity for a little extra spending cash.

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Walgreen's

$25.30 -- Monthly prescription
$20.00 -- Renewed Prescription Discount Card

I called around again this year to check the prices on my monthly prescription. Even with the extra $20 for the PDC, Walgreen's price still was lower. I didn't refill my prescription in October (oops! missed a few days), so that budgeted overage amount covered the card.

In my previous calculations, I forgot one large (for me) expenditure coming up soon. My doctor is going to insist on seeing me again before renewing my prescription. Minimum of about $200. I know that I can get thyroid testing done at the university, but I need to find out if they'll write a prescription, or you have to go to a doctor to have the results read. I really can't let this go again. After leaving teaching, and before getting the oil and gas job, I went for about 8 months without taking it. My dosage when I got back on it was exponentially higher. (I take brand name Synthroid. Yes, the generic is cheaper ... in the short run, but can wreak havoc with your numbers in the long run.)

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ETA: I forgot to mention that due to the rain today, I fear that I might be receiving a red light ticket soon. I was going the speed limit when the light turned yellow and wasn't sure if I could make it through. So, I started slowing down. Of course I couldn't brake too hard because of the wet roads. I realized a split second before the light turned red that I wasn't going to be able to stop -- so went on through. Ugh! Just what I don't need!

Happy November everyone! Today sure didn't feel like it was winter around here. I don't know what the temperature was, but I was sure quite warm.

I just finished my first draft of the second big paper for one of my classes. We had to assign peer review partners within our groups. That was some interesting drama. One person proposed that we partner up by last name. Normally I would have no problem with that, however, in our group we have at least two people who consistently turn in assignments late. Luck would have it that she'd be my partner.

So, I proposed the option of pairing people up with the person who posted the previous assignment before or after them. A few others already had an idea of who they'd like as a partner. We ended up doing a combination of my idea, and choosing your own partner. 4 people chose their own, and 9 were paired up via posting time. Whooh!

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Spending Report:

$1.50 - Stamps for my brother's birthday cards. He's turning 30 on November 4! Yikes!

$24.26 - Filled up the gas tank.

Income:

Korean Girl paid me $75.

Korean Boy did not pay me today - says he'll have it tomorrow. This is a regular occurrence with him, but he does eventually pay. I didn't work with College Korean Boy today, but probably will tomorrow.

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Buddy's leg seems to be doing better today. But then he started having multiple sneezing fits. Hopefully he's just allergic to something, and it isn't anything else.

I am tired!

Today was a no spend day for me. Not too unusual for a Saturday since I spend most of it at church.

I went ahead and signed up for Swagbucks. Unfortunately, I didn't realize you had to have the referrer send you a link for them to receive credit. I've already earned 78 SB. I can see how it would be possible to earn enough for a $5 Amazon card about once a week with not too much time. I'd rather the Paypal card (i.e. cold hard cash), but it costs a lot more in SB's.

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I had a frustrating experience this morning. The lady who had committed to being my assistant for teaching Sabbath School, and who had previously missed all of July, August and September ... called me as I was driving to church to tell me that she wasn't going to be able to help me, AND that she hadn't had time to do the ONE project I'd asked her to prepare. (The project took me all of about six minutes to do - but it was six minutes I needed to finish something else!)

Thankfully the other lady who's been helping me reliably the past four months agreed to continue helping me until I can find someone else. (She'd do it indefinitely, but her husband is wanting to church surf.)

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Tomorrow (Sunday) I am working with High-School and College Korean Boys starting at 2 p.m. The CKB could bring in anywhere from $50 - 75 depending on how much help he needs with his essay. That'll be a nice boost to the checking account.

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I have a crockpot of beans cooking tonight. They soaked since Friday afternoon until about 10 tonight. I changed the water once. Hopefully that will help to relieve some of the less desirable traits of beans.

Walgreen's

Hairspray - $1.08

Wal-Mart

Bananas, OJ, Brown Sugar, Cheese, eggs - $7.83

Total Spent: $8.91

I used a $.55 coupon for the cheese. The brown sugar should last for six weeks (unless my mom uses it!). The OJ generally lasts for two weeks - I drink 1/2 cup for breakfast. Bananas - I tend to buy them twice a week - both my mom and stepdad eat them as well. When I get the really green ones, my mom might eat 3 in a day!

*My eye was caught by a bag of hard-boiled, peeled eggs. $2.12 for 6 of them. I passed them by of course, and picked up the 6 pack for $.77. I'll have to boil them myself, but it's worth it.


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I have two 2lb bags of pinto beans. I'm going to soak one of them tonight, and tomorrow put them in the crockpot.

I also have lots of quinoa and red lentils. So, I'm thinking I'll make some kind of a casserole with quinoa, lentils, spinach, beans and cheese.

That may have to wait til next weekend though, since my Sunday afternoon is already spoken for.

I also am going to go through all my food supplies and make a list of what I have. Other than fruit, juice and brown sugar, I want to see if I can use up everything in my stockpile. That will be a good thing anyway for when I move.

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I think instead of limiting myself to beans, rice and oatmeal, I'm going to give myself a weekly budget of $20. This is for groceries and anything else, other than gas or other required bills.

I think I'll track it here -- Sunday to Friday. Friday is usually my biggest grocery shopping day -- so whatever is left is what I can shop with that day.

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I'm also thinking about what things I might be able to sell. One of my current textbooks I'll be able to sell in January, but the other two I think I actually may want to keep. I bought a Wii game back in March (I think) that has only been used twice (fitness game.) I'm going to try again to sell the box of 10 Brita Filters (need to find where they are though.) Maybe I could sell my elliptical - though it might fetch a better price in January.

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Before my reality check, I bought some items from Lakeside Collection for Christmas. A total of $36.xx which took care of everyone. One of the items are these polyperene (sp?) bags. I want to put the individuals name on it to personalize, but I'm not sure about what the best/most economical way of doing that is. Would fabric pens work? Something else?

Btw - One of the main items I wanted, is of course back ordered. AND it took them 6 business days to send my billing information to the warehouse. These items were ordered on Oct. 16. I received them today.

First and Last order.

This afternoon I was working with the Korean Boy. His sponsor came home and started talking to me about working with him in June to help him finish two classes via home study. At first I was saying, well it will depend on whether I've been hired on somewhere else or not. Then she mentioned, wouldn't my job start in August (if I got one!)? I realized that she was right - even if I did get hired somewhere, the earliest I probably could go and start putting the library together would be July. So, I told her that I would be willing to do it.

On my way home I was thinking about our conversation. It dawned on me that most public school employees don't get their first paycheck until the end of September.

So, when I got home I updated my budget, making sure that all my accounts matched, etc. Then I took the positive balance and subtracted my Spring tuition (roughly $900). I then subtracted my 6-month car insurance premium due in November ($216). Then I subtracted other expenses for November, other than the rent (which has already been paid). It left me with roughly $1000.00 total.

November is going to basically have 3 weeks of tutoring. December is going to have maybe 2 weeks of tutoring. So, that means that in January, I'll most likely have to use some of that buffer. Feb. should be a full month (wait no, it might not be - my big test week will probably be in Feb.) March will be 3 weeks (Spring Break). April and May should be full months. If Korean Boy stays, June will be an extra month. That leaves July, August, and September. *If* I get a library job, I will have moving expenses, setting up the library expenses, and of course, living expenses.

This is of course assuming nothing goes wrong with my car.

I am going to have to cut my costs wherever I possibly can. I've spent way way too much on stupid things.

The only places I can really cut are food and Netflix. I don't really use Netflix that much, so putting it on hold for a while won't kill me. Food ... I think I'm going to have to go to a beans and rice, rice and beans, and throw in some oatmeal diet.

If it weren't for the fact that I have two responsibilities at church which I've committed to, I might consider changing to a church that is closer by to save on gas. But overall, it wouldn't really save that much more. I will definitely have to not do any extra trips though.

I really can't do *any* extra spending. No more .99 apps. No more junkfood (will fit in with the challenge!). No more $1 movies. Nothing that I can't unequivocally post here and defend as a necessary expense.

I think I may ask my family to pay the renewal on my iPhone AT&T driving app for birthday/Christmas. For me, it has become an essential. It saves so much gas and time in my not getting lost.

If I don't do this, I may still be in the clear by June -- but come August ... (or July if Korean Boy doesn't happen in June).

I am going to attempt again to post all my expenditures. If you see something that you question, please feel free to question me.

Also, please feel free to offer any suggestions.

*Something I've thought of that might help when/if I do get a library job -- Take with me only what I can fit in my car, and leave everything else in storage. Then rent a room from someone short term. Once my paychecks begin, pay for movers to load the truck and have someone drive it to wherever I am. That would also give me time to really investigate the least inexpensive places to live in my new town.

If I don't get a job .... I really don't know what I'll do. I guess that would be about time to cash into my retirement money.

***I just had another realization hit me. All the above figures don't take into account travel expenses for interviewing for the supposed jobs. When I was a teacher in the SDA denomination, those expenses were taken care of. From what I've heard, that isn't the case in the public school system. Oy vey.

***Edited to add - My dad pays my phone bill. At first he was just going to pay the difference ($30) for the iPhone, but he's ended up actually sending more than enough each month for the entire bill. So cutting that wouldn't help.

So my mom had been making some annoying comments about my weight recently. While at the same time, she was acknowledging that her Diet Coke habit probably wasn't very good for her.

So, instead of getting fed up with her comments, I decided to do something proactive. Something which would help both of us.

I challenged my mom to drink only one 12oz soda per day, and I would limit my sugar intake to a spoonful of brown sugar in my oatmeal. Until the day before Thanksgiving.

So far, so good.

I'd done pretty well with No-S (no snack, sweets or seconds except on days that begin with S) over the last year or so. But lately I was finding myself following the guidelines ... every other week. My clothes were/are showing the effects of that, as was/is my grocery budget. Weekdays won't be so difficult for me, because I've proven to myself that I can go without my sweets for 5 days at a time, multiple times over. The real test will be Saturday and Sunday. (This isn't cutting out carbs. This is cutting out chocolate, ice cream, etc. Someone sent me a message on FB thinking I was cutting carbs. )

This challenge will benefit my pocketbook, and most likely my waistline. Plus it has the added benefit of maybe finally breaking my mom of the Diet Coke habit - which will be good, especially for her bone density.

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In other news, it looks like I might have a new tutoring student. Another Korean boy (actually, I think he's a freshman in college??). If it happens, I'd meet with him once a week on Fridays.

This works out very well, because I don't need to meet with my mentor librarian anymore. I'm finished with my Proficiency Checklist.

I registered on Monday for my very LAST class, and am just waiting for registration to open up for Capstone (one week, three essay questions - graded on a pass/fail basis.)

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This past Saturday was the church in the park. Sabbath School went pretty well. I had 10 kids by the end - only 4 of them were ones I'd had before. It really makes it hard to plan when you never know who is or isn't going to show up .. but oh well.

I ended up having to leave a little early from church. The weather was really rainy (everyone was seated under an overhang/gazebo thing.) I was getting a horrific headache and feeling nauseous. So, I get to my car, and for some reason didn't put it in reverse. Drove right up over the concrete stop block, that I did! Ugh! I managed to back my car off of it, and drive away. But all week I've just been waiting to see if I did any damage to my car which will significantly shorten its life.

Thankfully the headache went away not too long after I got home.

I had decided to try to participate in the frugal fast which Patient Saver suggested this week. The only thing I thought might cause a problem would be if I suddenly had an interview and needed to get some appropriate/fitting clothes.

Well, I found out tonight there were other possible snags!

Tonight I went to go to my sign language class. After our last class in May we'd agreed to not meet again till tonight. The teacher sent me a message on facebook today reminding me about it.

I ate a good meal around 5 p.m. so I wouldn't be tempted to stop somewhere for a snack. Then I arrived at our meeting place around 6:30. When our teacher/leader got there, she asked me if I knew of a good sit down place to eat.

We'd talked about going out to eat as a group and signing our orders while she interpreted, but had never set a date. Apparently, tonight was it.

We all (7 of us) ended up going to IHOP. I could have just ordered water, but instead I had water and a grilled cheese sandwich. (Both the least expensive thing I could find on the menu, and the least amount of food.) It was $3.89 with tax, and I left $6.00 total.

I'll be marking it and moving on to complete the Frugal Fast this week.

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I got an email tonight from the current Primary/Junior SS leaders asking if I'd teach this Sabbath. Reluctantly I agreed. This will at least be a good way for me to introduce myself to my Primary students who will be starting with me on July 3rd.

Tonight I also found a person willing to let me have a pool party at their house. The kids will earn points for it by prompt attendance, knowing their memory verse, answering questions about the previous weeks lesson, bringing a guest and good behavior.

I have found two new authors which I *really* like. Both of them are in the adult mystery genre, and feature women. The first one is "The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. It is set in Botswana, Africa. There are six books in this particular series (but lots more written by this author). The other book/author is "Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter" by Blaize Clement. A former female policewoman is no longer on the force, but runs a pet sitting business. There are 4 books (so far) in this series.

Today I finally went to the dentist to have my teeth checked. The ones which have been bothering me for several months. But that really is just a small part of my day today.

It started with my tutoring student telling me he had not spent any time studying the study cards, and that the night before a test he had all of three days to prepare for, that he's going to a friends house for a few hours. I seriously don't get it. I care more about him passing than he does. Only one more week left working with him. If he passes, then I might work with him again next year. I'm not so sure though that I even want to.

After tutoring, I got my oil changed. Had a $5 coupon and got a raincheck for a free car wash ( since it was pouring rain). $26.84 total

Then I went to the library to pick up a bunch of books I had on hold. (the Alice books by Phyllis Naylor) books 1,2 and 4-9 were all there. Book number 3 hadn't even been put in transit. I'd ordered all of them on the same day, and none of them had other requests. The CSR released the hold on that copy, and put it on a different copy. Hopefully I'll have it before I finish the first two.

Finally, I head down the road for my dentist appt. He is located in a town I lived in several different places, and also attended a nearby university. So I knew a great Chinese place with the best Egg Foo Young. I parked, and before going in checked to see the showtimes for Shrek 4. The local movie place has first run movies for $3. I turned my car off, but not my lights.

A few minutes later I got out (the first showing wasn't till after my appt) to go eat. Soon I found out they didn't take cc or debit. So back to my car for another plan.

The problem was though, my battery was dead!!! Argh!! After about 15 minutes a lady helped me jump start my car. I didn't want to turn it off till I was sure it was recharged, so went through TB drive through and then just drove around looking at the places I'd lived before for about an hour.

I finally went into the dentist about 30 minutes early, and an hour later was seen. Final prognosis is that I have at least two cavaties on the left side (where they xrayed) and one tooth that most likely needs a crown soon.

Total cost of prognosis (2 fillings, right side xrays, and. crown) $1700!!!

Today's visit -$85.

I feel so frustrated. My car has now done this twice - where the battery dies if the lights are left on after the motor goes off. Plus all the problems I had with it last summer.

Then I have a sinking feeling that before my doctor will renew my synthroid (hypothyroid) prescription, she's going to insist on an office visit and bloodwork. $3-400.

Then of course all this dental work. I could let it go - but what if the tooth cracks? And the cavaties will only be worse later.

Right now I have enough savings to pay for fall semester tuition. IF I find some income for the summer.

I'm really tempted to use my Roth Ira contribuitions. There'd be just about enough to pay for the dental work, and I don't think there'd be any tax consequences.

Or, I could just not continue my degree right now, and try to find full time work and rebuild my savings. I'd really hate to do that though, with only 16 credits to go. Plus there's no guarantee I'd find anything.

Last night after my ASL class my teacher videoed me doing my story. She did it in about 12 segments so that we could make the signs as clear as possible. It turned out pretty well, although some of the transitions are *really* noticeable. I had to upload all 12 segments to youtube, and then redownload them two at a time (two per hour) and then convert them. Finally I put them in the Movie Maker and did some more messing and trimming, and came up with the final product:

Kitten' First Full Moon : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blz7nD6uJiM

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I have three "vacation" mornings this week. My high-school student is having standardized testing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I offered to meet with him Tuesday after school, and then do a double session on Sunday - seeing as though he'll still be expected to be ready for the next test on Monday. He wants a "break" from tutoring. So, instead of doing makeup sessions, "we can just take the $75 from May." UGH@@@!!!!! Gee thanks, I didn't need that $75 or anything.

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I found out last night that my local church's school is desperately seeking a first-third grade teacher for next year. It is somewhat tempting. Steady pay (REAL money - none of this business of "taking breaks") and probably a pretty small group of students (could be a curse or a blessing though ...) most likely no benefits though. But I'm focused on finishing my master's. If I went back into teaching, I'd probably not finish it ever. Because if I went back into teaching for the denomination, I'd have to take classes to renew my denominational certification. That would essentially curb any further classes in Library Science. Plus, I just really do not want to go back into the classroom.

Not to mention I have *absolutely* NO teaching materials anymore. So, I'd be starting from pure scratch.

Just not something I want to do.

*Of course, I'm starting to feel really panicky about my money situation. And kind of wonder if God is pushing me towards this to take care of that. But then again, it could be the panic speaking. I hope I hear about the scholarships for next year really soon.

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My mom and stepdad have offered to cover the cost of me getting my teeth x-rayed to make sure that the tooth pain isn't more than just sinus related. That might happen as soon as this coming Tuesday.

Although this week is Spring Break, I'm still working with my high school student on Biology and English. Thankfully he was focused the entire time today - another session like Friday's session and I would have screamed!

Anyway... my phone had not been updated since the end of January. That means that there were quite a few new apps and other settings which I'd changed around since then that were not backed up. Also, I'd been looking at a couple apps which required the latest software update.

Why hadn't I updated my phone in so long? Because I had left my iPhone charger/data sync cable in my bag on the playground at the 6th grade tutoring student's school. Never to be seen again. That night (after realizing I'd left it there about 9 pm) I had run to Wal-mart and picked up a wall charger so I could at least charge my phone. But they didn't have the sync cable.

Then when my mom got an iPhone a few weeks ago, I thought that if she chose to keep it, I could borrow her sync cable once in awhile. But ... she of course isn't here anymore.

So today after tutoring, I stopped by the AT&T store and picked up a data sync cable for $21.97. (I also stopped at Staples and picked up more index cards for flashcards $3.99 pack of 500.)

When I got home I mentioned the data cable to my stepdad and he asked me if I'd ever heard of this website called Cell Phone Shop. I told him that I hadn't. So he showed me their website and how much the same cable cost there ... $4.99!!

I got on there and looked around, and ended up buying a data sync cable, a mini-microphone (for videos), a car holster/holder (so it doesn't slide around or fall on the floor), and a doohicky to wrap my headphones around (which are constantly getting twisted) all for $24.99 (+$4.99 shipping).

I'm of course going to take the data sync cable back that I bought today (probably on Wednesday because I won't have time tomorrow.)

So, for about $8 more I got 4 items instead of just 1. All of which are items I'd been thinking about, but hadn't wanted to spend the money on.

Yay! Right?

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Unfortunately, I decided that as long as I had the data sync cable here, I may as well get my phone updated.

I plugged it into my little 5 port usb hub and started the software update.

Error message. Software update couldn't be completed.

Weird??

I tried again. Nothing. Message comes up saying "iPhone in recovery mode. Must restore."

I called customer service and am told that yes, I have to restore my phone. Argh!!

So, I click restore. (with great copious amounts of tears and frustration)

Error message. Restore couldn't be completed.

WHAT???

Call customer service again. Got someone who had notes from my previous call (Yay! Didn't have to explain it twice!) Asked me where I had my usb plugged in. Then told me to plug it in to a port in the back and try again.

It worked!

Apparently what happened was the connection was too weak between the hub usb port and the phone for a software update. For normal syncing, it's okay.

Spent a good 3 1/2 hours re-syncing my music (didn't even bother with re setting up my play lists) and re downloading my apps.

Other than my music, everything is completely back to normal on my phone!!

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Tomorrow I'm meeting up with my friend T and her kids to see Old Dogs at the dollar theater and eat lunch together. I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a LONG day though, with ASL class after wards, but well worth it.

For the last six months or so, I've been sweating doing my 2009 taxes. From the calculations I'd made with the 2008 turbo tax, it sure looked like I was going to end up owing around $1500 due to Self-employment taxes. It really worried me how I was going to make my savings last for tuition AND paying the tax.

I was basing this off of making roughly $10k at the gym (plus the w-2 income from January/Feb). Today, though, I found out I'd made about $7500. And that right there made all the difference. Seriously.

First, I qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit. That put me down to owing about $200. Then, I put in my education expenses. That brought me to a REFUND!!!! of ..... $62!!!

This puts me in a real conundrum as to how to do estimated taxes for 2010. I more than likely will make less than 12k for 2010, and will have a similar amount of an educational deduction. So ... with EITC and the education credit, I doubt I'll end up owing more than a few hundred dollars, if that. Maybe just go ahead and send in $300 a quarter, and then get it all back later (most likely)? Just to be safe? I probably need to talk to a small business tax person - I just hate to do that since *every penny* counts right now.

Ugh! I'd so much rather be getting W-2's than have to be messing with all of this kind of stuff.

Today was my first tutoring session with I, the sixth-grade boy. He didn't have any actual math homework, so I taught him the concepts for his next two-days assignments, then he played the various math iPhone games I'd downloaded. (math was estimating multiplying fractions, and multiplying fractions). It went pretty well, except we ran out of things to work on before our time was up. I don't think that'll be a normal occurrence though.

His mom gave me $60, and said she'll give me the remainder on Wed. and Th.

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I arrived at the school's library early so I could be sure to have a parking spot (and to make sure I didn't get lost). The school librarian was still there when I arrived. We talked for a few minutes, and then a bright idea hit me.

I asked her if she was certified, and she said yes. Then I asked if she had her Master's, and she said yes! Then she told me that she'd just finished mentoring a library student last semester!! So ... I asked her if she'd be willing to be my mentor, since I'd just moved to this area and needed a nearby person. She said yes!!

(in the library program, you have to have a mentor as you go through it who essentially checks off that you've completed various skill tasks required for graduation)

Seriously, I felt like this was a God-thing.

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I have an interview on Wednesday at noon for the keyboarding teacher position. I SO hope I get it!

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One of the ASL books I ordered on Friday came today. That was some real quick shipping! And now I have a piece of mail with my current name and address on it, so I can get a library card (once I find where the local branch is located!)

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Spending:

Business expense: iPhone math apps - $7

Today my 5 male helpers and I got all my things completely moved out of my former landlady's house. They are now all either in storage, or at my new home.

Yahoo!

Former Landlady (FL) did a number of things that messed with my mind. First, on Friday when I went over to pack everything, I got another note.

"Laura, the kids have been having trouble remembering what food is ours and what is yours. So, I packed up all your food into bags and boxes." FL

And ... she had! Even the food in the freezer - which was really strange, since she didn't even have any food in there.

Before I left, I had a chance encounter with her. I spoke up, and told her thank you for bagging/boxing up my food. She completely ignored me.

Um.. okay.

Then... today. When I got there, I had yet another note. "Laura, I wish you all the best. You are a great person. Leave the key under the mat, and make sure you have your mail forwarded." FL

She had moved all my pantry boxes, etc. into one huge pile next to my room. The whole time we were there, she stayed shut up in her room with the animals. I was glad I'd had a chance to say goodbye to them (the animals) on Friday.

My dad offered me a good suggestion I think. I'm going to write her a note and ask her if she'd tell me what had happened. That I don't understand why her attitude towards me changed so drastically. Then, if she wants to tell me, she can, in writing. Which, seems to be her favorite way of communicating.

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Tomorrow I start my first day of tutoring with my new student. There is a slim possibility of a 5-hour a week position teaching keyboarding to 8th grade students at a local Christian school. If I get that ... then I *will* be quitting the gym!!!!

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On February 3, I'll be starting to take a class at my church on American Sign Language. I was talking to the instructor at church this weekend, and she told me that if I really enjoyed it, and did well with it, that I could take the next level with her. That would enable me to know enough to interpret sermons. (like she does)

That *really* intrigues me. Not only would it be an awesome skill to have as a librarian, but it would also be an awesome way to give back a little at church.

She was giving some stats during the announcements. Out of 10+ million baptized Seventh-day Adventists worldwide, there are less than 100 baptized deaf members. Our little church of less than 200 members has 10 of them.

So, if I can become good enough, someday when I move to wherever my librarian job will be, I may be able to help bring in new deaf members.I just think that would be SO cool.

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I spent several hours tonight sketching out my assignments for the coming semester. There are some weeks which look like real hair pullers. But, if I can keep pretty much on schedule, I should be able to do just fine.

They also put out the summer schedule. So today I put in my advising form for the last of the three Master's classes where you have to be on campus. I'm hoping that my form gets put through early enough that I get into the particular section. It's the only one that doesn't meet on Saturday.

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Spending ... ugh...let's see, what do I remember?

Truck rental: $18x.xx (added insurance)

won't get reimbursed for cost because the storage place I used was not the one with the reimbursement coupon

Gas: my car $23.xx
rental truck: $27.xx

Offering: 1.xx

books for ASL class: $23.xx
(used on Amazon)

Change of address form: $1

Driver's License change: $11

Hmm.. I'm sure I'm forgetting something... oh well.

*My mom paid for the pizza today, which was very nice of her. The guys ate almost every slice of the 3 large pizzas and most of the salad my mom added on the side.

Classes started on Tuesday. Two of my classes were up and running with no problem, but the third one was having some technical difficulties. It finally was up and running today.

I knew I was in a different section for my Children's Lit class, but hadn't realized that the required reading list would be different. As far as I can tell, the books I read over vacation are NOT on the new list. Ugh! Even better, with the other list, I didn't have to read Goosebumps - there were several other series I could choose from. Now, I have no choice. Double ugh! Also, the other section had you write book reviews as blog entries - this one only has you write the book reviews. I'll probably still put them up on my blog - if I'm going to take the time to write reviews, may as well put them on my blog!!

Anyway, only one of my classes looks like it will be a lot of work - the cataloging class. I have to do a research paper/project for it. I already chose to do it on graphic novels and comics, since I have somewhat of a knowledge base from the class I took this past summer.

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I will be starting to tutor a 6th grade boy next Monday in ... Math. Don't laugh too hard, I'm trying not to. As long as it keeps to stuff like adding fractions with unlike denominators, and very basic algebra, I should be okay. I hope.

3 1/2 hours a week for $100. It will definitely help the budget, since I'm spending more on gas, and had to cut my hours at the gym (both due to longer commute).

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The last couple days I've been feeling really yucky. Don't know if it is allergies, my body releasing stress, or what. All I know is that all I want to do is sleep, when I need to be doing schoolwork, and Friday will be packing and of course Sunday moving all the big stuff!

Ugh!

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Almost totally forgot! My 5 year blogaversery was on Tuesday! Hard to believe that I've been nattering on about my thoughts on money and life here for 5 years. Like I've said before though, I'm so glad to have found this community here.

SA'ers are the best!

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Spending:

Gas: lots of fillups 3 x in the last 9 days!!! ugh!!! roughly $87 total

Groceries: $12 - Costco veggie patties
$1.23 - frozen veggies
$29.32 - misc. groceries

Storage Unit: $35 (Jan rent + admin. fee)

For the most part things are going well in my new place. This morning I was slightly annoyed when I went to eat breakfast and there were no bananas left. Which is why I made a grocery store trip today .. bananas for the counter, and bananas for the fridge (plus other stuff).

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Oh yeah, I figured out a way to get to the gym without paying so much in tolls. It only adds about 5 minutes or so to my driving time (as long as there's not much traffic). So, I'm hoping that'll work out long term. Or ... I'll get another tutoring student or two and be able to quit the gym completely!

You know how when you see drivers do idiotic moves in front of you, or near you, it seems as though there never are any cops around to see it?

Well, today as I was driving home (oh glorious word - home, as in the place where I can use the kitchen in a relaxed manner, have a bathroom right off my room ...) a red pickup truck was in the center turning lane next to me. The driver of the pickup truck cut in front of me to get into my lane, causing me to have to brake hard in order to avoid him. Then, a few moments later, the same truck pulled back into the center turning lane, again, causing me to brake hard.

Unluckily for this truck driver, directly behind me was a cop. The cop smoothly pulled into the center turn lane, and followed the pickup truck into the parking lot with lights on.

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As I mentioned above, the word "home" has a much better meaning for me now. As of Thursday night, I essentially moved in to my mom and stepdad's home. Sweet bliss.

I had wanted to avoid my landlady seeing me haul off my computer and also get my frozen foods on Thursday. However, I'd forgotten she doesn't have her kids on Thursdays, so I couldn't do it without her seeing/hearing. I ended up getting my computer, some clothes, etc. All 4 animals greeted me, and the black cat Sierra, nearly escaped out the front door during my last trip to the car.

I decided to try again today to pick up food from the pantry, as well as fridge food and freezer food, and of course my computer keyboard I'd left behind. Unfortunately, I guess the kids got out of school early today for whatever reason.

So, again I got everything I wanted to get, except for the fridge and freezer food - landlady was in living room/kitchen with a friend talking the entire time. All 4 animals greeted me, and hung around me most of the time I was there.

On my way to the house, I stopped at the bank and got a cashier's check for Feb. rent and wrote a note to my landlady giving 30-day notice. I was worried that she might try to say I had abandoned my stuff or something (since she could NOT have not noticed all my activity on Thursday.)

I left the note, and the check, taped to her bedroom door just before leaving. I had hoped to not go back until Friday to pack the remainder of my things, but I realized tonight that I'll have to go back once again tomorrow - I left my textbooks there. Ugh. I just hope she's not home.

The hardest part of all this is seeing the confused looks on the dogs faces - especially Nikki's. Today when I walked in the door, Kayla, the dog who slept in my room, *ran* full flight to me with her butt wiggling vigorously. It just about broke my heart.

Ugh. It wouldn't have been any easier in May to leave the animals ... but it still isn't easy. I would've liked the opportunity to at least have taken the dogs on one last walk ... oh well. In a few years I'll have a place of my own again, and hopefully be making enough money where I can afford a dog and a cat - animals that I can train and spoil and love however much I want to!

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Spending today:

Deli - $4.68 (breakfast and lunch)
Gas - $25.46
Feb rent - old place: $290

I didn't get any groceries today. I'd been planning on getting some more bananas, but just ran out of time before sunset.

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This morning was my first run from my new home to the gym. It took about 45 minutes, which wasn't too bad. What wasn't so great were all the tolls. I'm going to have to experiment to find a way with less tolls, and not too much added time.

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Today was payday. Even with the extra shift I worked on Wednesday, it was a paltry amount.

$317.68

So ... $31.77 - Giving; Savings; Tax Savings

So, I did a stupid thing this morning. I didn't know I had done it until I got home this afternoon.

How did I find out? By one of my landlady's famous notes!

What had I done? I left my space heater on. Major stupidity, but NOT done on purpose. I hadn't turned it on since before I went on vacation, and just plain forgot it was on this morning as I was stumbling around getting ready to go to work.

Understandably, she was ticked. I'd be too. But, instead of saying, "Hey Laura, you left your space heater on this morning. That's incredibly dangerous. Please don't let it happen again!" then I could respond with abject apologies, and make sure it doesn't happen again .. and we could move on ...

Nope, she writes me a note telling me that she'd found out my space heater was on, and that she's decided to give me notice of an earlier move out date. June.

She then goes on to say that she's selling her house this summer.

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Today I was studying my SS quarterly lesson on the fruits of the spirit - specifically love. It really hit me hard, all the uncharitable thoughts I've been having towards my landlady.

I had decided that instead of reacting to all this by taking flight and possibly leaving bad blood, I should be the adult and see if we could talk it out and clear the air. Maybe I'd be able to find out what was really going on here.

After getting that note this afternoon, my resolve to have that talk with her weakened measurably. I was again ready to schedule the movers to come get my stuff ASAP and take whatever place I could find.

Thankfully I decided to call my dad first.

After talking with him, I've decided that I'm going to write her a note saying that we need to talk, and when would be a good time for her. Leave the ball in her court.

I'm thinking of leaving it on the kitchen table in the morning before I go to church.

If she bites, then I'll start by saying how sorry I am about the space heater thing, and continue by saying that I think there've been some frustrations building, and I'd like to hear what she thinks. Then go from there.

Hopefully the conversation can make it tenable for me to live here until May. If not, then an intensive search for a new home will begin.

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I also received a disturbing piece of mail from a government agency resulting from a failed company I owned in 2000. I'm going to make some calls on Monday to figure out what to do about it. (I thought it was taken care of way back then!)

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In gym related news ...

K, another worker at the gym, talked to the owner yesterday for quite awhile. She expressed to him our frustration with not having enough supplies to keep the bathrooms stocked, and sometimes not even to do the towels. He agreed that wasn't a good thing, and that now that he's done with his "football middle age thing" (my words, not his) he's going to pay more attention to his business.

So ... this morning I texted E to tell him we were out of laundry detergent - and I had a full load to wash. He then called me and told me that he'd be in later with a lot of supplies. I'd heard that one before, so kind of rolled my eyes. Miracles do happen! We now have more than enough shampoo, deodorant, hairspray, detergent, etc., to last a few months! (no body wash yet .. he's still going to get that). Now we are to tell him whenever the supply closet (which I organized today) gets down to one of anything - and he'll make sure it gets replaced.

If this actually happens, it will make life so much easier at the gym!

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The tutoring session I was supposed to attend yesterday (in order to meet a possible tutoring student) was rescheduled for Monday - due to bad weather closing the school & the mom feeling sick.

Mom told me that there may be another lady with a second grade boy who'd be more able to afford my $25/hr rate than her rate.

So, I could possibly have 6 hours/week of tutoring (or more). That would be very, very helpful.

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What's up with sweet potatoes?!

Last week when I went to Walmart for my weekly grocery shopping, they didn't have any. Then this week they had some, but they were completely unappealing.

I ended up finding some at Albertsons, but they were $1.29/lb versus the russett's for $.98/lb!

I thought I saw on some list somewhere that winter is their growing season?!

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I had to stop by my bank today to figure out what was going on. On Tuesday I had deposited two checks, but they were not showing up online, either as a pending or completed transaction. The teller wasn't able to tell me why it wasn't showing up, but she said that it did show up in my account. Weird.

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Spending today:

Wal-mart: $5.87 (fruit, egg sub, treat)
Albertsons: $3.21 (sweet potatoes)